


what do you go home to?

by mwildsides



Series: steve/bucky kidfic!verse [1]
Category: Captain America
Genre: M/M, kidfic o noz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-30
Updated: 2012-03-30
Packaged: 2017-11-02 18:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/372249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mwildsides/pseuds/mwildsides
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve gets home a little later than usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	what do you go home to?

**Author's Note:**

> if you're into mood music, The Way You Look Tonight is..well it made me cry but it's perfect. thanks to manueluv on tumblr.

It’s been a year, Steve realizes, as he unlocks the door to their apartment. Not a hard year but it sure as hell wasn’t the easiest. Then again, none of their years, together or separate, had ever been easy. This one was just...more, in a good, if not tense way. Steve opens the door, quiet even if he didn’t know the apartment’s occupants were currently asleep on the couch, but when he sees them both, he makes sure to close the door behind him as quietly as he can. He isn’t surprised, in so many words, to see Sarah curled up on Bucky’s chest, the TV going, but it is...well he feels glad, more than anything. 

Again, it’s been an odd year. They’d both had there doubts, but Bucky more so than Steve, but the super soldier understood. Coming off a stint as a brainwashed Soviet assassin didn’t really make you feel capable of being a good, or even decent, parent, so yeah, naturally he had been scared when Steve had mentioned the adoption to him. And then came not only doubt in himself, but the worries that came with the fact that they were Captain America and Winter Soldier, and just about every implication for their personal lives that came with those titles. 

But of course everything had gone fine (thus far), even though Bucky had been reluctant to even hold Sarah--they’d named her after Steve’s mother--after they’d brought her home, back when she was just a year old. He’d been terrified, and he’d told Steve as much, late at night in bed, whispering his worry that maybe they’d made a huge mistake. Steve never had many doubts, if any, because who could make better parents than two orphans? That had certainly proved to be true in the way Bucky simply was with her, the way he’d come home with a stuffed animal under his arm, in the way he spoke to her. She’s got him wrapped around her finger. 

Really, Bucky is a great dad. Sometimes he’s a big softie, lets her sleep in their bed when she should be getting used to her own, lets go the ‘eat your vegetables’ thing, but that’s where Steve comes in and not so subtly tells her that no, she has to sleep alone tonight. So they round each other out, and not that he’s over confident, but Steve thinks they’re fantastic parents. Even if they have to make Darcy baby sit at a seconds notice when they’re on a mission, or come back way past bed time, and Sarah is upset. She doesn’t like it when they’re gone till three or four AM and she has to sleep at Stark Tower, but Steve and Bucky always take her home, even if the sun is just rising. 

They sing her old army songs, because they don’t know lullabies. Bucky makes sure she wants for absolutely nothing, which, in the long run, could spoil her a little, but Steve knows he wants to give her the childhood neither of them had, and he does too. Steve teaches her little things, even though she’s not in school yet, like numbers and letters where he can, makes sure she gets outside enough, swats Bucky whenever he curses around Sarah, and maybe he’s a bit too excited about it, but he buys a small bike. 

It’s been a tough year, an uncertain year, but they’re working everything out. 

With a sigh, Steve (quietly) slumps in the chair to their left, glancing at the TV as he pulls off his gloves. The DVD menu for some movie is playing, one Bucky no doubt had let Sarah chose, and one he’d suffered quietly through, for her. He hated kids movies, hated movies in the new century in general, but he couldn’t take the singing and high-pitched voices of any of these things for kids. Of course he only had to wait long enough for Sarah to lose interest, and start doing something else. For a two (and a half) year old, she has a lot of energy--or maybe that’s just two year olds, neither of them have any idea about how kids act--but they handle it well even if they’re busy. Which, between Captain America, and the work Bucky does with S.H.I.E.L.D., they are. 

Steve runs a hand over his hair, matted and messy from his cowl, and looks at his best friend and their daughter with a subtle smile on his lips. They both look sound asleep, Bucky’s face slack the way it only is when he’s sleeping deeply like this, and Sarah’s lips are parted slightly, her hair pushed back from her forehead. It’s brown like Bucky’s, and unlike either of them, she’s got brown eyes, so it’s probably the only thing that gives away the fact she isn’t theirs, but that hardly matters, she’s beautiful and getting more so every day. Bucky fondly points that out to Steve when they’re sitting together in the park, and Sarah is playing with the grass, pulling at it and grinning because of course at that age, it’s entertaining. 

Steve feels like, when he smiles, it hurts because that’s all he’s done for the past twelve months, and it’s nice after all he and Bucky had gone through after meeting again. Standing from his chair again, he turns a bit to pull the blanket that hangs off the back of it, moving as quietly as he can to the side of the couch. Carefully, he drapes it over both of them as much as he can, knowing Bucky might wake up for how lightly he sleeps, but a few seconds pass, and nothing happens, so Steve resumes his spot in the chair again.

He can’t help but think, when Bucky’s brow rumples a little in his sleep, that he’s the luckiest man on Earth, he’s gotta be. Tony has more money than anyone can really guess at, Thor is a god (or something) and there are people out there born with powers a lot of others are jealous of, like telepathy or shapeshifting, but Steve doesn’t want any of that; everything he wants--has ever wanted--is lying there on that couch, huddled together under a blanket. 

Bucky inhales deeply all of a sudden, stirring just a little, but, Steve can see it register on his face, he feels Sarah’s weight against him, and tries not to move. He inhales and wiggles his toes, free arm stretching out to hang off the side of the couch as he slowly comes into consciousness. Blinking slowly, Bucky sees Steve, and brings his hand up to rub at his face, trying to keep as still as possible. 

“You’re home...late...?” He mumbles quietly, watching Steve rest his temple against his fist, and nod slowly. There’s still a smile on his lips as he looks at Bucky and Sarah.

“Yeah,” The blond turns his head to look back into the kitchen, where the microwave tells him it’s just past 10 o’clock, “Not too bad.” 

“We had pasta for dinner, ‘nd theres leftovers if you’re um-” Bucky is stopped by a yawn, and then his eyes go a little watery, “If you’re hungry.” A little smile settles onto his face, one to match Steve’s. 

“Nah I’m alright. I’m going to go shower though.” Steve adds softly, and pushes himself up from the chair once more. Bucky nods, looking down at Sarah, and sighs. 

“Yeah we should probably get to bed huh?” He asks, directed at her, Steve guesses, because she stirs a little. Steve pauses, watching their daughter wake up slowly just as Bucky had done. When she blinks a few times, he moves toward the couch, stepping between that and the coffee table again, and leans down to kiss her cheek, hand brushing some of her pin-straight hair back again. Wordlessly, he moves up and presses his lips to Bucky’s in a quick, soft kiss that the brunette chases a little when Steve pulls away. 

As he walks toward their bedroom, unzipping his uniform’s top, he hears Bucky murmur something to Sarah and she replies with a whine, and Steve knows how this is going to end. He strips out of his Captain America uniform, folds it neatly on the counter, and runs a shower. It’s not often he feels this settled after missions, but coming home to Bucky and Sarah makes all the difference, even if they weren’t awake to greet him with a kiss and excited little toddler arms wrapping around his leg. He thinks, again, with an overwhelming sense of relief that he is so, _so_ fortunate to have a family. 

When he’s done with his shower, Steve pulls on his pajamas and shuffles out to the bedroom, only to find Bucky grinning at a lump under the covers. He’s still until he reaches out to touch said lump, tickling no doubt, and Sarah giggles. Steve can’t help but grin, running a hand through his damp hair as he walks to the closet to hang up his uniform. 

“She apparently doesn’t want to sleep in her bed.” Bucky tells him, over Sarah’s laughter. 

“And you just couldn’t say no, right?” That was Bucky’s usual explanation, but they both used it a bit too often. The only response Steve gets is a chuckle, and he walks back to the bed, climbing on behind Bucky. He props himself up on one elbow like the brunette, and drapes an arm over his waist, peering over Bucky’s shoulder to where Sarah is squirming around under the sheets, trying to wiggle away from Bucky’s hand. 

Sighing once more, Steve nestles his face against the crook of Bucky’s neck, finally feeling tired. 

“Have a debriefing in the morning,” He mumbles against his friend’s skin, eyelids feeling heavy. 

“Oh yeah?” Bucky murmurs in return, a bit disinterested because his attention is focused elsewhere. Steve just nods, “Alright, time for bed, for real this time sugar. Dad’s got Captain America business in the morning.” The blond huffs a laugh, but that’s what they usually call it, because Sarah is too little yet to really get who Captain America is. They’re not sure what they’ll do when she’s older, and has to know these things, but Steve supposes they’ll cross that bridge when they come to it. 

After a lit of shifting around, they get settled, Bucky tucked up against Steve’s left side, and Sarah on the other. She squirms right up until she’s laying in the crook of his arm, head on his shoulder, and like that, he holds her close. 

“Night,” Steve tells her, and she looks up at him, mumbles something that is probably a good night in return, but he can’t tell. Bucky laughs at it anyway, and reaches over Steve to run a hand through her hair gently. 

“She needs a haircut,” He murmurs, withdrawing that hand and curling it against his chest as they both look down at Sarah. She’s probably already asleep. 

“Yeah, but we’re taking her to a professional. I’m not letting you do it again.” Steve says incredibly seriously, though he can feel Bucky’s cheek bend with a smile against his chest. 

“I don’t think you remember the fear I have of barbers, Steve,” Theres a notch in his right ear as to why. 

“Buck, the last time someone that wasn’t me cut your hair was 1941 when you enlisted. She’s got _long_ hair, thus why we can’t use clippers.” Steve laughs then, and Bucky shifts against him again. 

“Yeah alright whatever. But I’m not going in.” He mumbles, and above him Steve sighs, closing his eyes. 

“Deal.” 

“Love you,” Bucky mumbles simply, and the blond grins. 

“Love you too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> blame tumblr for finally making me do this. I have a few more planned, and they're going to be this lengthish, but we'll see. also; timeline, what timeline?


End file.
